Marvell announced a single-chip, multi-radio-access-technology LTE world modem that can be used in a variety of devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, automotive devices, set-top-boxes and TVs.
The silicon company said the PXA1801 world modem combines 3GPP R9 Cat 4 FDD-LTE (Frequency Division Duplexing Long Term Evolution) and TDD-LTE (Time Division Duplexing Long Term Evolution) with R8 DC-HSPA+ (Dual Carrier Evolved High-Speed Packet Access) for both WB-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) standards and EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution).
"Marvell is now leading the way to a new era of seamless global connectivity for the masses with the industry's first single chip 2G/3G/4G modem with support for FDD-LTE, TDD-LTE, HSPA+, TD-SCDMA, and EDGE," said Weili Dai, Marvell's co-founder in a release. "I envision a time soon when a truly affordable global communications network helps to bring our world closer as consumers from every walk of life enjoy uninterrupted access to all services, applications and the worldwide cloud from any device they choose anywhere they roam"
Marvell said its solution is designed to deliver flexibility at a much lower cost of implementation. The company believes that widespread adoption of the world modem should both alleviate strained 3G networks and usher in new services. Marvell said its advanced LTE technology is designed to support Category 4 throughputs of 150 Mbps on the downlink, and the design also supports Release 9 features such as dual-layer beamforming to enhance signal reception.
Research firm Current Analysis took a moderate view of Marvell's announcement: "While the radio combination offered is clearly a first, the level of market demand and the timetable for such a device remain unclear. While this chip would be ideal for international consumer devices and those in transitions, most users transition by an upgrade to a newer next-generation device," wrote analyst Jeff Ogle. "However, if Marvell can achieve the right cost with this new chip (a big 'if'), it could still find itself viable even as a single-radio device implementation, given the ability to address so many different technologies and the scale benefits this could deliver."
For more:
- see this release
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